The subject matter disclosed herein relates to the maintenance of X-ray tube voltages, and, more specifically, to features for capturing liquid metal within X-ray tubes.
A variety of diagnostic and other systems may utilize X-ray tubes as a source of radiation. In medical imaging systems, for example, X-ray tubes are used in projection X-ray systems, fluoroscopy systems, tomosynthesis systems, and computer tomography (CT) systems as a source of X-ray radiation. The radiation is emitted in response to control signals during examination or imaging sequences. The radiation traverses a subject of interest, such as a human patient, and a portion of the radiation impacts a detector or a photographic plate where the image data is collected. In conventional projection X-ray systems the photographic plate is then developed to produce an image which may be used by a radiologist or attending physician for diagnostic purposes. In digital X-ray systems a digital detector produces signals representative of the amount or intensity of radiation impacting discrete pixel regions of a detector surface. In CT systems a detector array, including a series of detector elements, produces similar signals through various positions as a gantry is displaced around a patient.
The X-ray tube is typically operated in cycles including periods in which high voltages are generated between certain components (e.g., when X-rays are generated), interleaved with periods in which lower voltages are being used (e.g., the X-ray tube is not generating X-ray radiation). As an example, in a typical configuration, a high voltage is generated between a cathode, which generates an electron beam, and a target anode, which is struck by the electron beam. The high voltage serves to accelerate the electron beams towards the anode, and the electron bombardment results in the generation of X-rays. Accordingly, in situations where the high voltage is unstable, the X-ray tube may not be able to generate a suitable X-ray flux for imaging. In implementations where the X-ray tube is in a clinical setting, for example in the imaging systems described above, such instabilities can slow or altogether halt an imaging system's capability to perform patient examinations. There is a need, therefore, for an approach for limiting instability of the high voltage in X-ray tubes.